Chinese New Year Part One

Mike and I have just returned from a great holiday in here in Taiwan. This week has been Chinese New Year. And we were very lucky to get 9 days holiday during this time.

On Saturday 28th January we packed up our stuff and headed for the home of our good friend Becki. Becki is a Californian who lives in Taipei and goes to our church. At her place we cooked a really delicious dinner of salmon, salad, veg and rice and helped her finish her ‘new year cleaning’. Late that night our other friends, Megan and Andrew, also Americans, arrived at Becki’s house too. We all spent the night together, bunking down in Becki’s room.

Very early the next morning - 3.30am - we got up, piled into our rented car and hit the highway. We had been warned by many people that the roads would be terrible this week so we were advised to leave very early to avoid traffic. But at that time of morning although other people were doing the same, the traffic was fine and we got to Kaohsiung by 10am.

From left: Andrew, Megan, Becki, Christine & Michael.

Kaohsiung is Taiwan’s second biggest city and it at the very bottom of the island. We spent most of the day there, eating and wandering around. We walked (very slowly) up to the Chiang Kai Shek Centre where there was a market. This was fun, wandering around browsing at all the stores. Lots were selling traditional Taiwanese flutes, and there were gorgeous hand puppets and nice wooden shoes. But we resisted and didn’t buy anything.

Mike made some friends at the market!

Kaohsiung seemed to have a lot of public art.

After spending a few hours in Kaohsiung we jumped back in the car and drove to Kenting, further south. Here we found our home for the next two nights. The groovy “Beach House”. It is run by surfers and mostly caters to surfers so everything was very laid back and easy.

On Monday the others got up early, while I tried my best to sleep-in. Eventually I gave in and joined them for an early morning swim. The water was so warm. Warmer than the NZ waters in summer. And the surf was pretty good too. We did however wonder if the warm water was due to the nuclear power plant we could see from the beach....

This beach is called Nanwan, or South Beach.

My white body soon turned pink in the hot weather!

That afternoon, we headed into the Kenting National Park. This is a beautiful area, which is very clean and has lots of rubbish bins (this is unusual for Taiwan). Scattered throughout the park were rather funny signs....

Oh Michael, I'm so scared, save me from the puddle snake!

The girls at the top of the hill.

Behind us you can see the end of Taiwan.

The national park is full of caves and crevices.

Unfortunately, once Tuesday arrived, we had to leave. But before we did we checked out one more beach, Baisha Wan. This was undoubtably my favourite place that we visited. The water was so clear and beautiful. It is a harbour beach (which is always my favourite) so that meant no waves, and no sand to get in awkward places...

Baisha Wan means White Sand Bay, although actually it looked yellow to me...

Mike explores the "Cat's Nose" Maobitou, strange eroded coral area near Baisha Bay.

Well, that's half of the holiday... I'll post some more photos in a few days.